Читать книгу Monsieur de Camors — Complete - Feuillet Octave - Страница 7

Table of Contents

Near eleven o’clock, one evening in the month of May, a man about fifty years of age, well formed, and of noble carriage, stepped from a coupe in the courtyard of a small hotel in the Rue Barbet-de-Jouy. He ascended, with the walk of a master, the steps leading to the entrance, to the hall where several servants awaited him. One of them followed him into an elegant study on the first floor, which communicated with a handsome bedroom, separated from it by a curtained arch. The valet arranged the fire, raised the lamps in both rooms, and was about to retire, when his master spoke:

“Has my son returned home?”

“No, Monsieur le Comte. Monsieur is not ill?”

“Ill! Why?”

“Because Monsieur le Comte is so pale.”

“Ah! It is only a slight cold I have taken this evening on the banks of the lake.”

“Will Monsieur require anything?”

“Nothing,” replied the Count briefly, and the servant retired. Left alone, his master approached a cabinet curiously carved in the Italian style, and took from it a long flat ebony box.

This contained two pistols. He loaded them with great care, adjusting the caps by pressing them lightly to the nipple with his thumb. That done, he lighted a cigar, and for half an hour the muffled beat of his regular tread sounded on the carpet of the gallery. He finished his cigar, paused a moment in deep thought, and then entered the adjoining room, taking the pistols with him.

This room, like the other, was furnished in a style of severe elegance, relieved by tasteful ornament. It showed some pictures by famous masters, statues, bronzes, and rare carvings in ivory. The Count threw a glance of singular interest round the interior of this chamber, which was his own—on the familiar objects—on the sombre hangings—on the bed, prepared for sleep. Then he turned toward a table, placed in a recess of the window, laid the pistols upon it, and dropping his head in his hands, meditated deeply many minutes. Suddenly he raised his head, and wrote rapidly as follows:

“TO MY SON:

“Life wearies me, my son, and I shall relinquish it. The true

superiority of man over the inert or passive creatures that surround

him, lies in his power to free himself, at will, from those,

pernicious servitudes which are termed the laws of nature. Man,

if he will it, need not grow old: the lion must. Reflect, my son,

upon this text, for all human power lies in it.

“Science asserts and demonstrates it. Man, intelligent and free,

is an animal wholly unpremeditated upon this planet. Produced by

unexpected combinations and haphazard transformations, in the midst

of a general subordination of matter, he figures as a dissonance and

a revolt!

“Nature has engendered without having conceived him. The result is

as if a turkey-hen had unconsciously hatched the egg of an eagle.

Terrified at the monster, she has sought to control it, and has

overloaded it with instincts, commonly called duties, and police

regulations known as religion. Each one of these shackles broken,

each one of these servitudes overthrown, marks a step toward the

thorough emancipation of humanity.

“I must say to you, however, that I die in the faith of my century,

believing in matter uncreated, all-powerful, and eternal—the Nature

of the ancients. There have been in all ages philosophers who have

had conceptions of the truth. But ripe to-day, it has become the

common property of all who are strong enough to stand it—for, in

sooth, this latest religion of humanity is food fit only for the

strong. It carries sadness with it, for it isolates man; but it

also involves grandeur, making man absolutely free, or, as it were,

a very god. It leaves him no actual duties except to himself, and

it opens a superb field to one of brain and courage.

“The masses still remain, and must ever remain, submissive under the

yoke of old, dead religions, and under the tyranny of instincts.

There will still be seen very much the same condition of things as

at present in Paris; a society the brain of which is atheistic, and

the heart religious. And at bottom there will be no more belief in

Christ than in Jupiter; nevertheless, churches will continue to be

built mechanically. There are no longer even Deists; for the old

chimera of a personal, moral God-witness, sanction, and judge—is

virtually extinct; and yet hardly a word is said, or a line written,

or a gesture made, in public or private life, which does not ever

affirm that chimera. This may have its uses perchance, but it is

nevertheless despicable. Slip forth from the common herd, my son,

think for yourself, and write your own catechism upon a virgin page.

“As for myself, my life has been a failure, because I was born many

years too soon. As yet the earth and the heavens were heaped up and

cumbered with ruins, and people did not see. Science, moreover, was

relatively still in its infancy. And, besides, I retained the

prejudices and the repugnance to the doctrines of the new world that

belonged to my name. I was unable to comprehend that there was

anything better to be done than childishly to pout at the conqueror;

that is, I could not recognize that his weapons were good, and that

I should seize and destroy him with them. In short, for want of a

definite principle of action I have drifted at random, my life

without plan—I have been a mere trivial man of pleasure.

“Your life shall be more complete, if you will only follow my

advice.

“What, indeed, may not a man of this age become if he have the good

sense and energy to conform his life rigidly to his belief!

“I merely state the question, you must solve it; I can leave you

only some cursory ideas, which I am satisfied are just, and upon

which you may meditate at your leisure. Only for fools or the weak

does materialism become a debasing dogma; assuredly, in its code

there are none of those precepts of ordinary morals which our

fathers entitled virtue; but I do find there a grand word which may

well counterbalance many others, that is to say, Honor, self-esteem!

Unquestionably a materialist may not be a saint; but he can be a

gentleman, which is something. You have happy gifts, my son, and I

know of but one duty that you have in the world—that of developing

those gifts to the utmost, and through them to enjoy life

unsparingly. Therefore, without scruple, use woman for your

pleasure, man for your advancement; but under no circumstances do

anything ignoble.

“In order that ennui shall not drive you, like myself, prematurely

from the world so soon as the season for pleasure shall have ended,

you should leave the emotions of ambition and of public life for the

gratification of your riper age. Do not enter into any engagements

with the reigning government, and reserve for yourself to hear its

eulogium made by those who will have subverted it. That is the

French fashion. Each generation must have its own prey. You will

soon feel the impulse of the coming generation. Prepare yourself,

from afar, to take the lead in it.

“In politics, my son, you are not ignorant that we all take our

principles from our temperament. The bilious are demagogues, the

sanguine, democrats, the nervous, aristocrats. You are both

sanguine and nervous, an excellent constitution, for it gives you a

choice. You may, for example, be an aristocrat in regard to

yourself personally, and, at the same time, a democrat in relation

to others; and in that you will not be exceptional.

“Make yourself master of every question likely to interest your

contemporaries, but do not become absorbed in any yourself. In

reality, all principles are indifferent—true or false according to

the hour and circumstance. Ideas are mere instruments with which

you should learn to play seasonably, so as to sway men. In that

path, likewise, you will have associates.

“Know, my son, that having attained my age, weary of all else, you

will have need of strong sensations. The sanguinary diversions of

revolution will then be for you the same as a love-affair at twenty.

“But I am fatigued, my son, and shall recapitulate. To be loved by

women, to be feared by men, to be as impassive and as imperturbable

as a god before the tears of the one and the blood of the other, and

to end in a whirlwind—such has been the lot in which I have failed,

but which, nevertheless, I bequeath to you. With your great

faculties you, however, are capable of accomplishing it, unless

indeed you should fail through some ingrained weakness of the heart

that I have noticed in you, and which, doubtless, you have imbibed

with your mother’s milk.

“So long as man shall be born of woman, there will be something

faulty and incomplete in his character. In fine, strive to relieve

yourself from all thraldom, from all natural instincts, affections,

and sympathies as from so many fetters upon your liberty, your

strength.

“Do not marry unless some superior interest shall impel you to do

so. In that event, have no children.

“Have no intimate friends. Caesar having grown old, had a friend.

It was Brutus!

“Contempt for men is the beginning of wisdom.

“Change somewhat your style of fencing, it is altogether too open,

my son. Do not get angry. Rarely laugh, and never weep. Adieu.

“CAMORS.”

The feeble rays of dawn had passed through the slats of the blinds. The matin birds began their song in the chestnut-tree near the window. M. de Camors raised his head and listened in an absent mood to the sound which astonished him. Seeing that it was daybreak, he folded in some haste the pages he had just finished, pressed his seal upon the envelope, and addressed it, “For the Comte Louis de Camors.” Then he rose.

M. de Camors was a great lover of art, and had carefully preserved a magnificent ivory carving of the sixteenth century, which had belonged to his wife. It was a Christ the pallid white relieved by a medallion of dark velvet.

His eye, meeting this pale, sad image, was attracted to it for a moment with strange fascination. Then he smiled bitterly, seized one of the pistols with a firm hand and pressed it to his temple.

A shot resounded through the house; the fall of a heavy body shook the floor-fragments of brains strewed the carpet. The Comte de Camors had plunged into eternity!

His last will was clenched in his hand.

To whom was this document addressed? Upon what kind of soil will these seeds fall?

At this time Louis de Camors was twenty-seven years old. His mother had died young. It did not appear that she had been particularly happy with her husband; and her son barely remembered her as a young woman, pretty and pale, and frequently weeping, who used to sing him to sleep in a low, sweet voice. He had been brought up chiefly by his father’s mistress, who was known as the Vicomtesse d’Oilly, a widow, and a rather good sort of woman. Her natural sensibility, and the laxity of morals then reigning at Paris, permitted her to occupy herself at the same time with the happiness of the father and the education of the son. When the father deserted her after a time, he left her the child, to comfort her somewhat by this mark of confidence and affection. She took him out three times a week; she dressed him and combed him; she fondled him and took him with her to church, and made him play with a handsome Spaniard, who had been for some time her secretary. Besides, she neglected no opportunity of inculcating precepts of sound morality. Thus the child, being surprised at seeing her one evening press a kiss upon the forehead of her secretary, cried out, with the blunt candor of his age:

“Why, Madame, do you kiss a gentleman who is not your husband?”

“Because, my dear,” replied the Countess, “our good Lord commands us to be charitable and affectionate to the poor, the infirm, and the exile; and Monsieur Perez is an exile.”

Louis de Camors merited better care, for he was a generous-hearted child; and his comrades of the college of Louis-le-Grand always remembered the warm-heartedness and natural grace which made them forgive his successes during the week, and his varnished boots and lilac gloves on Sunday. Toward the close of his college course, he became particularly attached to a poor bursar, by name Lescande, who excelled in mathematics, but who was very ungraceful, awkwardly shy and timid, with a painful sensitiveness to the peculiarities of his person. He was nicknamed “Wolfhead,” from the refractory nature of his hair; but the elegant Camors stopped the scoffers by protecting the young man with his friendship. Lescande felt this deeply, and adored his friend, to whom he opened the inmost recesses of his heart, letting out some important secrets.

He loved a very young girl who was his cousin, but was as poor as himself. Still it was a providential thing for him that she was poor, otherwise he never should have dared to aspire to her. It was a sad occurrence that had first thrown Lescande with his cousin—the loss of her father, who was chief of one of the Departments of State.

After his death she lived with her mother in very straitened circumstances; and Lescande, on occasion of his last visit, found her with soiled cuffs. Immediately after he received the following note:

“Pardon me, dear cousin! Pardon my not wearing white cuffs. But I

must tell you that we can change our cuffs—my mother and I—only

three times a week. As to her, one would never discover it. She is

neat as a bird. I also try to be; but, alas! when I practise the

piano, my cuffs rub. After this explanation, my good Theodore, I

hope you will love me as before.

“JULIETTE.”

Lescande wept over this note. Luckily he had his prospects as an architect; and Juliette had promised to wait for him ten years, by which time he would either be dead, or living deliciously in a humble house with his cousin. He showed the note, and unfolded his plans to Camors. “This is the only ambition I have, or which I can have,” added Lescande. “You are different. You are born for great things.”

“Listen, my old Lescande,” replied Camors, who had just passed his rhetoric examination in triumph. “I do not know but that my destiny may be ordinary; but I am sure my heart can never be. There I feel transports—passions, which give me sometimes great joy, sometimes inexpressible suffering. I burn to discover a world—to save a nation—to love a queen! I understand nothing but great ambitions and noble alliances, and as for sentimental love, it troubles me but little. My activity pants for a nobler and a wider field!

“I intend to attach myself to one of the great social parties, political or religious, that agitate the world at this era. Which one I know not yet, for my opinions are not very fixed. But as soon as I leave college I shall devote myself to seeking the truth. And truth is easily found. I shall read all the newspapers.

“Besides, Paris is an intellectual highway, so brilliantly lighted it is only necessary to open one’s eyes and have good faith and independence, to find the true road.

“And I am in excellent case for this, for though born a gentleman, I have no prejudices. My father, who is himself very enlightened and very liberal, leaves me free. I have an uncle who is a Republican; an aunt who is a Legitimist—and what is still more, a saint; and another uncle who is a Conservative. It is not vanity that leads me to speak of these things; but only a desire to show you that, having a foot in all parties, I am quite willing to compare them dispassionately and make a good choice. Once master of the holy truth, you may be sure, dear old Lescande, I shall serve it unto death—with my tongue, with my pen, and with my sword!”

Such sentiments as these, pronounced with sincere emotion and accompanied by a warm clasp of the hand, drew tears from the old Lescande, otherwise called Wolfhead.